Daniel Ricciardo had an elusive podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix in his sights after a barnstorming run at the Albert Park circuit before settling for fourth.
The Red Bull star started from eighth position in Sunday’s 58-lap race after he copped a three-place grid penalty for speeding during a red flag in second practice.
The fourth-placed finish equalled Ricciardo’s best performance at his home grand prix, which he achieved at the 2016 race.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel took the chequered flag in first place for Ferrari, with pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton second in his Mercedes and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen third.
Ricciardo recorded the fastest lap of the race (one minute 25.945 seconds on the 54th lap) in his last-ditch bid to chase down Raikkonen to snatch the last spot on the podium.
It didn’t take long for Ricciardo to work his way through the field after the race got underway in warm conditions in Melbourne.
He passed Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault on the fourth lap then moved into sixth on lap nine after teammate Max Verstappen survived a scary spin.
The Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, fourth and fifth respectively, enjoyed good speed over the weekend and were proving difficult to pass until disaster struck.
First Magnussen retired on the 22nd lap then Grosjean joined him on the 24th, gifting Ricciardo fourth spot.
While a frustrating result given the grid penalty, the 12 championship points make a welcome change of luck for Ricciardo after last year’s disaster.
The Australian endured a wretched home grand prix after he crashed in qualifying, copped a grid penalty, started the race from pit lane and then retired on lap 29.